On May 28, 2023, an Air France A350-900 operating flight AF291 from Osaka-Kansai (KIX), Japan to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), France declared an emergency at 11:00 JST, returning to its departure airport due to a suspected bird strike damaging its nose cone.
Roughly 30 minutes into the flight, after the aircraft had reached its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, the decision to return was made. This came following the pilots' report of a technical malfunction affecting the aircraft's weather radar and speedometer.
Social media posts have shared images of the A350 taxiing at Osaka-Kansai following the emergency landing, showing visible damage to the aircraft's nose cone, likely from a bird strike during take-off.
The aircraft, registered as F-HTYO, had been in service with Air France for approximately a year at the time of the incident. It was carrying 324 passengers along with the crew when the emergency occurred.
